Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos!
Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is
featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2006 August 15

IC 410 and NGC 1893 Credit & Copyright:
Stephen Leshin

Explanation:
A faint, dusty rose of the northern sky, emission nebula
IC 410 lies about 12,000 light-years away in the constellation
Auriga.
The cloud of glowing hydrogen
gas is over 100 light-years across,
sculpted by
stellar
winds and radiation from embedded open star cluster NGC 1893.
Formed
in the interstellar cloud
a mere
4 million years ago, bright cluster stars are seen just below the
prominent dark dust
cloud near picture center.
Notable near the 7 o'clock position in this wide, detailed view
are two relatively dense streamers of material trailing
away from the nebula's central regions.
Potentially sites of ongoing star formation, these
cosmic tadpole
shapes are about 10 light-years long.